Thanksgiving evolution

Thanksgiving blessings and prayers

Lee Thomas

Evolution of Thanksgiving

            Thanksgiving is a well known holiday throughout the United States. It’s a time to get together with family and celebrate each others company with all sorts of foods, the same types of foods that were at the first Thanksgiving. At least that’s what many who celebrate the holiday believe. The truth about Thanksgiving is a little more than just the Mayflower and turkey. More people were involved in the coming of Thanksgiving than just the Pilgrims and Indians, but why is it all left out of the modern day knowledge?

            The origin of Thanksgiving as many today know it is somewhat true but some of the ideas around it, mostly main ideas around the holiday, have been stretched and are not as true as one would think. Many would start the story of Thanksgiving by saying that Pilgrims came from England as to escape religious persecution. The reality behind it is that while there is definitely a possibility that a handful were escaping persecution, many came over on the Mayflower to make money. Another issue with the story is that they were called Pilgrims. Many of them would have called themselves Separatists for removing themselves from England. All of these facts a simple to find if more people looked into the real origin of Thanksgiving. I looked on the New York Times, and History.com to easy find facts that disprove these misconceptions.

The meal shared by the Indians and the Separatists is true, however this wasn’t really the start of Thanksgiving. While it was celebrated in parts of the country, Thanksgiving wasn’t declared a holiday until 1863 when Sarah Josepha Hale, the “Mother of Thanksgiving” as some would say, wrote Abraham Lincoln a letter asking him to make it a national holiday. After the Civil War ended Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday as a form of thanks for the victories at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Gettysburg as said on History.com. This is where the technical start of Thanksgiving began.

            The most important part of Thanksgiving to many who celebrate it is the food. Turkey and cranberries, corn, and bread. These are just some of the many foods that are a necessity at the table, but unfortunately, they all aren’t the foods that many believe were at the first Thanksgiving. Squanto was an Indian living in New England when he was taken by the English and sold into slavery in Spain in 1614. Once he got out of slavery, he lived in England for a while, where he learned english, then returned to New England in 1619 only to find that his tribe had been killed off by a smallpox outbreak. In 1621 the Separatists came to New England and met Squanto who showed them the best fishing spots, and how to farm properly. Another tribe also helped show the Indians how to grow corn and other foods. The meal was shared by the Separatists and the Indians, that much is true, but Turkey was not for certain part of the meal. It’s been debated that many “wild fowl” could’ve been a part of the meal, but over the years advertising has many Turkey the main food on the menu. The same goes for cranberry sauce. Cranberries were for sure not at the first Thanksgiving, but through advertising have become a major part of the holiday. Smithsonianmag.com showed that 88% of families eat Turkey on Thanksgiving and that 20% of the turkeys eaten every year take place on Thanksgiving.

Sources:
New York Times
History.com
Smithsonianmag.com

           

Movie review paraphrase

Lee Thomas
D block
10/30/18

Solomon Northup

Original paragraph:

"It’s on Epps’s plantation that “12 Years a Slave” deepens, and then hardens. It’s also where the existential reality of what it meant to be enslaved, hour after hour, decade after decade, generation after generation, is laid bare, at times on the flayed backs of Epps’s human property, including that of his brutalized favorite, Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o). Mr. Fassbender, skittish and weirdly spiderlike, grabs your attention with curdled intensity. He’s so arresting that at first it seems as if the performance will soon slip out of Mr. McQueen’s control, and that the character will become just another irresistibly watchable, flamboyant heavy." 
( New York times movie review)

My Paraphrase:

We see the movie "12 Years a Slave" become more engaging as we arrive with Solomon at Master Epp's plantation. This is where we really see what life was like as a slave, and for many of them this was their whole life. Master Epp's is portrayed as a vicious slave owner, with his main victim being his best cotton picker, Patsey. Michael Fassbender's (Master Epps) acting style throughout this film really captivates the viewer for the whole time. His aggressiveness within his scenes makes us think that his character will go off script at any moment and become a character we can't take our eyes off of. 

Paraphrase Practice:

"Some historians have argued that Lincoln’s personal beliefs underwent a significant change during the last year of the Civil War, and Lincoln did in fact suggest to the reconstructed government of Louisiana in 1864 that “very intelligent” black men and “those who have fought gallantly in our ranks” might be given access to the ballot box. As depicted by the film, during the 1864 Presidential campaign Lincoln threw his support behind passage of the 13th Amendment and was active in securing its passage in 1865."

Spielberg's Lincoln: A Historian's Review, The official publication of the Texas Exes

My paraphrase of this selected passage:

Historians have debated how Lincoln's moral outlooks changed during the final year of the war. Along with how in 1864 Lincoln attempted to persuade Louisiana for blacks who'd fought in the war, and were "intelligent" to vote. At the time Louisiana was a reconstructed government. The movie shows that while Lincoln was attempting to obtain votes for the election of 1864, Lincoln was all in for the 13th Amendment and stayed that way until 1865 when it was ratified. 

Lincoln questions

Photo of Lincoln

1. Lincoln was "uncompromising" when he kept pushing for slavery to be abolished even when many people opposed his judgement. Thaddeus Stevens was "uncompromising" when he continued to disagree with Lincoln's methods on spreading popularity for the amendment. however, the did agree on hiring the men to persuade members of the house to vote in favor of the amendment.

2. The movie shows the conflict Lincoln was facing with going against the wishes of many in order to do what he knew was right morally. Both the movie and letters convened the well.

3. Lincoln was in such a rush to get the 13th amendment passed because if he didn't get it passed before the war ended then the Emancipation Proclamation could be removed and slavery would be reinstated.

4. The movie made it somewhat complicated when discussing who was pro-slavery and anti-slavery because members of the house began to flip sides and then flip back which began to get confusing after while.

5. Many people were worried about their businesses going under, or blacks gaining too many rights. This wasn't shown that much in the film except for the scene where Lincoln is talking to the couple towards the beginning of the film, and the couple said that they were in favor of the amendment unless the war was almost over, in which case the would like to keep slavery.

Reconstruction archive reflection

Within the archive I found talk about the "Fears of Reconstruction". This topic mainly went over the drop in products, and injure businesses. The paper was from the Memphis Daily Appeal, and it went over how reconstruction was causing a scare within the community, and there was increased agitation along with trouble on the streets.This is really what i expected from the paper at this time, southerners are afraid of the businesses being ruined or the communities tainted from the black community, and they're not happy about it. Reading the archive allows us to get a better feel of what was on everyone's mind at the time of the Reconstruction, and to see peoples reactions to it.

Memphis Daily Appeal newspaper

Why did Reconstruction end in 1877?

As two men ran during the election, the vote was split to 7 Democrats and 8 Republicans and David Davis, a Supreme court judge as the deciding factor, however after taking the Illinois Senate seat, David he wasn't allowed to vote. Joseph P. Bradley, a Republican, took his place and the vote ended 8 to 7 Hayes won the election. With his election Hayes expressed equality for both races, and with that he pulled the remaining Union soldiers out of the South which led to the fall of the last Republican administrations, and with that Reconstruction ended.

Civil War letters to home

Conditions for soldiers during war:

On January 20th 1862 Private Joseph Saberton wrote to his brother. In his letter he gave details on the weather at the time being snowy with some sleet. He talked about the spread of sickness and there were only around 500 men able to be on duty because the rest had cases of measles, or something of that severity.

July 31st 1862, Joseph Saberton wrote once more to his family mainly his brother and father in separate parts of the letter. He addresses his most recent march where six men had died to a heat stroke. He also is very encouraging of his brother, with words such as "Give the south particular hell when they come at you." From this we can assume that his brother also fought for the Union army.

November 19th 1861, Dirk Keppel writes to his brother-in-law about his time so far. He talks about the fortresses that they've captured along with the plantations they've cleared out. He also talks about the cold nights where they sleep outside, and how the men get sick and long to be home.

June 26th 1864, Private John Miller wrote to his father telling him about how they were driving the confederates back, and how he was doing. He told him how the rations were small and the heat and and rain were making the men sick, but he reassured his father that he had good health and wasn't in bad condition.

June 10th 1862. John Hurley his sisters from a POW camp in Mississippi. He informs them that he is getting better, but still has measles. He is at the camp after staying in a hospital for some time and talks about his friends who died from sickness.

All of these men were Union soldiers except for Private John Hurley who was a confederate soldier from Alabama. All these men wrote back to their families to tell their loved ones that they were still breathing and most were still in good health, but not all of them. Many soldiers through-out the war suffered died from diseases and illnesses from poor advances in medicine. It makes us wonder how many of these men didn't make it home not because of a bullet or bayonet but because of illness spread across both sides, North and South.

Sources:
Joseph Saberton letters
Dirk Keppel letters
John Miller's letters
John R. Hurley POW letters